Coronavirus: UAE reports 1,262 Covid-19 cases, 771 recoveries, one death

The UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention on Saturday reported 1,262 new cases of the Covid-19 coronavirus, along with 771 recoveries.

One death was also reported. As many as 133,003 new Covid-19 tests were carried out, taking the total to over 15.1 million Covid-19 tests so far.

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— (@wamnews) November 21, 2020

In a statement, the ministry stressed its aim to continue expanding the scope of testing nationwide to facilitate the early detection of coronavirus cases and carry out the necessary treatment. The UAE has conducted over 15.5 million tests till date as part of the country's massive screening programmes to combat the spread. However, the ministry has urged the public to cooperate and stick to the Covid-19 precautionary measures outlined by the government.

More than 57.17 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and around 1.36 million have died, according to a tally published on Saturday. With 252,493 deaths and over 11.7 million confirmed cases, the United States tops the list of twenty countries with the highest recorded infections and deaths in the world. And the latest wave of the pandemic is hitting many regions harder than the first that swept the globe after the virus emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year.

Amid the bleak new statistics, Pfizer confirmed on Friday that it and partner BioNTech have applied for emergency use authorisation for their coronavirus vaccine, becoming the first to do so in the US or Europe as the pandemic rages around the world.

The vaccine has been developed with breathtaking speed — just 10 months after the genetic code of the novel coronavirus was first sequenced. The announcement had been expected for several days, after the companies said that a completed study of trials of the product showed it was 95 percent effective in protecting people from infection.